Vol. 75/No. 17      May 2, 2011

In February the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill eliminating all funding for Title X and Planned Parenthood. The Title X program funds birth control, patient education, counseling, cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy testing. The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1976, prohibits the use of federal money to fund abortions.

Planned Parenthood has sought to downplay its abortion services and emphasize others in its campaign to maintain government funding.

Leah Gallant, a student at Swarthmore College, told the Militant, “Ninety-seven percent of Planned Parenthood funds are used for nonabortion services. But it’s also important to talk about abortion itself as a right—that it’s up to women to make their own decisions.”

A week after the demonstration here, Congress finally reached a compromise budget deal. Supporters of cutting off funds for Title X and Planned Parenthood agreed to drop those demands. In return, the Democrats agreed to ban all government funds for abortion in the District of Columbia.

In another blow to legal, safe abortions, the governor of Idaho April 14 signed into law a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Idaho is the third state to adopt such legislation.
 
 
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